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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25224742">The Language Barrier (Isn't That High)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_popcorn_kernel/pseuds/a_popcorn_kernel'>a_popcorn_kernel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Being an Idiot, But it's accidental, F/M, Identity Reveal, Language Fails, Love Confessions, Love Letters, Reveal, because</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:02:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>920</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25224742</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_popcorn_kernel/pseuds/a_popcorn_kernel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien hands Marinette a letter written in Mandarin with the confession that he's Chat Noir and he's in love with her. He thinks she won't be able to understand it--after all, her dialect is Wenzhounese. So what's the harm in a little prank?</p><p>Except he forgot one tiny little detail. </p><p>Wenzhounese and Mandarin are written the same way.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>150</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Language Barrier (Isn't That High)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>cross posted from tumblr. inspired by a <a href="https://galahadwilder.tumblr.com/post/621409364936359936">tumblr post</a> by <a href="https://galahadwilder.tumblr.com">@galahadwilder</a>. enjoy!</p><p>EDIT: this is based off of a headcanon in which Marinette knows Wenzhounese. please don't leave comments like "it's not canon" because i <em>know</em> it's not canon. i'm just having fun. it's called fanfiction for a reason</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
  <p>Marinette was bad at Mandarin. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Period.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There was a good reason why she’d needed Adrien’s help to even just communicate with her great-uncle. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I mean, she could speak Chinese, in a sense. She could speak Wenzhounese. A Chinese dialect. It was different, though; very different.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But the divide between the two Chinese dialects wasn’t that large—even though the various intonations and pronunciations vastly differed, one thing stayed similar. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Mandarin, Wenzhounese, Hokkien, and all those other dialects—most of them were all written the same way.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Adrien, naïve as he was, hadn’t known this.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Which was why he, in his ignorance, had written a rather revealing note to Marinette in Chinese, thinking his secrets were safe because Marinette couldn’t understand Mandarin, right?</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>(Oh, sunshine child. Poor, dumb, sunshine child.)</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The letter itself was simple. Straight to the point.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But its contents… world-shattering. Mind-blowing.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He’d given it to Marinette right before she’d gone home, with a cheeky wink and a smile that promised mischief. She’d taken it with a blush, cheerfully acquiescing to his request to only open it when she got home. Ignoring the sly look in his eyes, because what harm was there in a little note?</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She should’ve known. She should’ve known it was more than just a “little note.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Marinette’s hands trembled as she reread the blocky Chinese characters for the nth time, struggling to make sense of what has just happened.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>我知道你不會說普通話,可是我是</em><strong><em>黑貓</em></strong><em>和我愛上了你</em>, it read, Adrien’s too-wide pictographs huddling together on the torn half of a notebook page.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Or, in English:</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I know you can’t understand Mandarin, but I am Chat Noir and I’m in love with you.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Her eyes frantically scanned the line of text one more time, unwilling to believe what she was reading. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Adrien was Chat Noir? Adrien was in love with her?</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>No. No, this couldn’t be possible, it couldn't—</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But what if it was?</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She envisioned his sunny hair, his green eyes. Compared it to Chat’s. Imagined mussing his hair up a little, to get that signature shaggy look Chat sported. Mentally drew a mask and a pair of cat ears.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The similarities were startlingly clear.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Well, crap.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Gulping for air, she finally let the note drop to her desk as she cradled her head in her hands.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Adrien was Chat Noir. Chat Noir was Adrien. It was undeniable now.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Tikki drifted towards her, alarmed by her holder’s sudden silence. “Marinette? Are you… are you okay?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Wait. I need some silence. I just need to digest this, Tikki,” she mumbled weakly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Tikki nodded, then zipped out of the field of her vision.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Her gaze landed on that note again.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>我愛上了你。</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He said he was in love with her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Adrien. In love with her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She hardly dared to believe it. Adrien being Chat Noir was a big enough coincidence, one she felt insanely lucky for. But Adrien falling for her? That required luck of massive proportions. Divine intervention. There was no way he could be both Chat and in love with her. That was too much for even her imagination to fathom.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But the carefully written characters said otherwise.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Marinette bit her lip. That didn’t make it any more believable to her. Besides, she reasoned, he could be playing a prank, like the time he’d pretended to be a statue in the wac museum. She couldn’t help but wince at the recollection of that incident. It had been so embarrassing.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She exhaled. Maybe a second opinion would help. “Tikki?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Tikki promptly flew in front of her. “Yes?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Do you think Adrien would ever play a prank on me?” When the kwami cocked her head in curiosity, as if she knew there was more to it than that, she elaborated, “Like, a prank where he told me he was Chat Noir and that he was in love with me?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But instead of freaking out like Marinette had thought Tikki would, the kwami grinned. “Finally! I’m so happy for you two!” she chirped, bouncing on the desk with excitement.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Marinette’s mouth fell open. “So… so he really is Chat Noir?” she asked weakly. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yes!” </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“And he’s… in love with me?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Apparently so!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Marinette fell back onto her chair, sinking into the soft cushion. “And… you’re okay with this? That he revealed himself?” she asked timidly, almost afraid to hope.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Tikki did a somersault in happiness. “Of course I am! It’s about time!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“So… Adrien loves me,” she murmured. “Adrien is Chat. Adrien loves me… he loves me!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She squealed, hands cupping her cheeks as she finally embraced the revelation. “Oh my gosh, Tikki, how have I been so lucky! Ahhh!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Tikki giggled. “Well, you are Ladybug, who’s pretty much the embodiment of good luck.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Marinette laughed. “That’s true.” Suddenly, she sat up straight, hit with an idea. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Tikki! I should answer him!” A grin full of mischief slowly spread across her face. “Oh, his expression will be priceless when he realizes I could actually understand what he wrote.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Tikki’s eyes widened, her normally innocent gaze now sparkling with mischief. “Ooh, why don’t you write something like ‘I’m Ladybug, and I’m in love with you too’?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Snatching up a pen, she nodded eagerly at her kwami’s suggestion. “Perfect! Now, hold on…”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Slowly, painstakingly, she wrote a reply underneath his message, taking care to make each character as beautiful and graceful as possible. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Special care was given to the word「愛」。 </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Love.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>by the way there's <a href="https://theanxiouscupcake.tumblr.com/post/621792338136662016/the-language-barrier-isnt-that-high">adorable fanart</a> from <a href="https://theanxiouscupcake.tumblr.com">theanxiouscupcake</a>!!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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